In a move which some officials are saying could have as much significance as any previous capture since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, US officials are saying that Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was captured along the Pakistani border and is now being “interrogated.”
Baradar is at the very least in charge of military operations for the Taliban in the southwestern portion of Afghanistan, and appears to have also assumed a de facto role as Mullah Omar’s top adviser since the 2007 arrest of Mullah Obaidullah, the former Afghan Defense Minister.
Yet Obaidullah’s capture was hardly a game-changer in the war, and at any rate his whereabouts are unknown at this point and he may well have resumed his position. The Taliban maintains they managed to negotiate Obaidullah’s release in 2008 as part of a prisoner swap for Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin, though Pakistan denies that such a swap ever took place.
Mullah Baradar was responsible for the 2009 Rules and Regulations handbook issued to Taliban fighters which, among other things, ordered them to make efforts to avoid civilian casualties in their attacks. He was also, as so many Taliban have been, reported killed in 2007 by the Afghan military, though clearly this was not the case.
When the capture was reported on CNN late last night there was this whole narrative about how he was captured in Karachi and therefore the whole policy of going after these Taliban leaders in large population centers by Obama was correct and bearing fruit.
Well he could not have been very important if the US has announced this. Everyone connected to him has likely already disappeared.
In fact I will not be surprised if he is assassinated(if he in fact is as important as Americans say), such a high ranking member with knowledge of other members and locations could be damaging to the organization's operations.
hang him from a bridge bye his nuts and let him have his virgens